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Brewing Beer: How To Do It At Home

One of the world's most famous beverages can be made at home, quite easily. Here we will discuss, step by step, the process of making homemade beer. There are many styles and tastes for you to get to know, you can be creative.

Beer is one of the most popular drinks on the planet, it is drunk all around the world, so why not make your own? There are tonnes of flavours and styles, and learning to brew can be quite rewarding. Not only can you see everything that is in your beer and learn a new skill, but depending on your love of beer, you could save a tonne of money brewing your own. Let's get started.

GATHER YOUR INGREDIENTS AND SUPPLIES

Of course, the first step in the process is making sure you have all the equipment and supplies that you need:

CLEAN YOUR EQUIPMENT

If you don't clean everything, you can spoil your batch of beer. Use unscented cleansers for obvious reasons and make sure you thoroughly clean all of your brewing equipment. Make sure your working environment is clean as well. Items, dirt, debris ... etcetera can collect on your supplies harbouring micro-organisms which will ruin your brew. So keep everything clean.

To clean your equipment, it's best to use a special solution that's made for brewing equipment, you can get more information and buy it at brewing stores or online. Also, there are home brewing sanitizers to use throughout the process as well as keeping your hands clean. Keep your hands clean.

HEAT WATER

So the first actual step is to put 3.8l of water in the pot and bring it to a boil. Next, you want to add dry or liquid malt extract. So once the water is boiling, take the pot off the heat and slowly add your malt extract. You want to be stirring the water and make sure that your malt extract does not collect in the pot, keep stirring as you put it in.

BOIL AGAIN

Once the malt extract has dissolved entirely, gradually return the liquid to a boil. The water should get to a rapid boil.

ADD HOPS

As your liquid comes up to a rapid boil, then drop in your hop into the rapid boiling water.

SANITISE THE EQUIPMENT

Sanitization removes all living things from the equipment, that can contaminate beer, such as wild yeast and bacteria. Because of its ease of use, no-rinse sanitizer is highly recommended and can be purchased from your local homebrew supply shop.

CHILL WORT

After a 30 minute boil, you will have successfully created wort, the unfermented liquid, that will turn into beer. Fill the clean and sanitised fermenter halfway with cold water. Add the hot wort after it sits for 5 minutes. Fill the fermenter with 18.9l of cool water, and allow the wort to sit until it drops to 21-24°C.

PITCH YEAST

When the wort temperature has dropped, sanitise the yeast package and add (pitch) the yeast.

SEAL FERMENTER

Seal the fermenter with a sanitised airlock and bung. If using a bucket fermenter, a carboy bung is not typically needed. The airlock can be filled with no-rinse sanitizer or a high proof alcohol.

STORE FERMENTER

In 1-2 weeks, the yeast will be converting the fermentable sugars from the malt extract into CO₂ and alcohol, known as fermentation. Hold a temperature within the range called for by the specific yeast you are using, no disturbance and no light should reach the wort. For this specific recipe, keep the fermenter on the lower end of the 18-24°C range.

MONITOR FERMENTATION

Signs of fermentation should be visible via a bubbling airlock after 12-72 hours. Bubbling is caused by CO₂, a byproduct of fermentation. If the bubbling slows down or stops, it doesn’t necessarily mean fermentation is complete. Another visible sign of fermentation is the formation of frothy foam on top of the wort called krausen.

ADD PRIMING SUGAR

Once boiling, add 142g of priming sugar (dextrose), and boil for 10 minutes. If you’ll be bottling less than 18.9l, a good rule of thumb is to use 28g of priming sugar for every 3,8l being bottled.

ADD TO BUCKET

After the 10 minute boil, remove from heat and add the priming sugar solution to your already clean and sanitised bottling bucket.

TRANSFER BEER

Using clean and sanitised equipment, such as an auto-siphon or racking cane, transfer (rack) the beer from the fermenter into the bottling bucket. Note: create a whirlpool in the bottling bucket in order to evenly mix the sugar without splashing. Avoid transferring the solid contents (trub) at the bottom of the fermenter into the bottling bucket.

ATTACH BOTTLE FILLER

Attach the bottle filler to the spigot with a small piece of food-safe tubing.

FILL BOTTLES

Note: Be sure to sanitise all these pieces of equipment. Fill the clean and sanitised bottles up to the very rim of the bottle neck. When you remove the bottle filler, the amount should be perfect - about 2.5cm from the top of the bottle - consistent from bottle to bottle.

CAP BOTTLES

Carefully cap the bottles with sanitised caps using a sanitised bottle capper. Place bottles in a room temperature area, around 21°C, and let them sit to allow carbonation to take place.

ENJOY

After 2-3 weeks, open a bottle and enjoy the fruits of your labour! Enjoy your beer

VIDEO: How To Brew Beer At Home

Written by: Guest Writer Occasionally we have guest writers contribute to our blog here at Zamnesia. They come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, making their knowledge invaluable.